Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) on Thursday announced the temporary closure of all its restaurants in Lesotho due to the severe outbreak of bird flu in neighboring South Africa.
Lesotho’s government has taken the precautionary measure of banning all poultry imports from South Africa, citing concerns about the spread of avian influenza.
This decision has had a significant impact on KFC’s supply chain, which largely relies on chicken sourced from certified farms in South Africa that are free of bird flu.
Lesotho, a landlocked and mountainous nation completely surrounded by South Africa, is feeling the repercussions of the ongoing bird flu crisis across its borders.
South Africa has been grappling with the bird flu outbreak for several months and has had to cull over seven million egg-laying hens, accounting for 20-30% of the country’s total poultry stock.
This crisis reached its zenith last week when Mozambique was compelled to cull approximately 45,000 infected hens that it had imported from South Africa. Namibia also took proactive measures by banning the import of South African poultry in September.
